


Mirror Image

by FireEye



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M, evil twin, trope bingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-01
Updated: 2013-11-01
Packaged: 2017-12-31 03:24:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1026689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireEye/pseuds/FireEye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>-This isn't... quite how I wanted it, but it's been rolling around since last Trope Bingo and ffff.  Deadlines, you know.<br/>-According to Kaidan's writer, Kaidan's name was once going to be "Alexander Kailenko."  Thus: Kaiden = Alexander when I'm writing... uh... "seriously."  :P</p></blockquote>





	Mirror Image

The message had been simple and entirely without substance.  The empty warehouse didn’t offer much more in the way of clues, and Kaidan was starting to think he’d misunderstood the directions.

“Hello?”

A gruff krogan appeared at the far side of the middle of the empty, wide-open room, “Alenko?”

“Yeah, that’s right,” Kaidan said.  The sinking feeling hit bottom.  “Who are you?”

The krogan pulled a gun, and Kaidan pulled up a barrier.

~*~

The dock was wide and open, with an overreaching view of the nebula beyond the stars that gave him a sense of vertigo.  _Space_.  _The Final Frontier_.  In all it’s awe-inspiring glory.

The ship’s airlock was more comfortably confined, without the _you might fly out into space at any given moment if the station’s gravity and mass effect fields fail_ quotient.  All he had to do was slip in without being noticed, and...

_“Standby, Lieutenant Alenko.  Decontamination in progress,”_ the ship announced.  So much for that plan.    _“Welcome aboard, Lieutenant Alenko.”_

Creeping along the catwalk, he ignored the second glances he was accruing as he marveled at the splendor of the most advanced ship in the Alliance Naval Fleet.  In particular, the galaxy floating above the navigations pit was a far sight more impressive without making him feel he was gonna fall off.

So.

This was where the uptight bastard worked.

“Alenko?”  Kaiden froze, turning to face a woman who, on second glance, was decidedly familiar, in an _as seen on TV_ way.  Commander Shepard, the First Human Spectre herself.  Her eyebrow raised in response to his stare, and her inquiry had drawn the attention of half the crew on the deck.  “Are you alright?”

“I, um.  I was just, er... thinking that...” he glanced between the woman and her entourage.  Smiling, he decided on flattery.  “I don’t think I’ve ever told you how beautiful you are.”

For better or for worse, he had the attention of _everyone_ , now.

Shepard’s hand tangled in his shirt, and she shoved him back a step, leaning in close to him.  Under her breath, she hissed, “Are you drunk?”

Kaiden’s smile faltered, only to redouble.  “Drunk on _love_ , baby.”

There was snickering amidst the ranks.  Fist still tangled in the fabric of his shirt, Shepard’s eyes narrowed and she pressed her lips together in a thin line.  “Come with me, please?”

~*~

“Hey, c’mon, it doesn’t have to be this way.”

Shepard stopped, halfway down the stairs.  “What way is that?”

“Well...” Kaiden inched his way down until he reached the same step, leaning over her, “You know.  All professional and... _stuff_.”

Her eyes widened as he leaned down further to plant a kiss on her mouth.  She shoved him back, and he caught his balance on the next stair down.

“ _Huh_.”  Shepard licked her lip.  She glanced down the stairs, then up at the door, before pulling him back into a second, deeper kiss.  Her fingers splayed across the back of his neck, before tightening in his hair.

When she pulled back, the sheer neutrality of her expression was impossible to read – didn’t this woman _ever_ smile?  “I think I may have underestimated you, Lieutenant.”

Continuing down the stairs, she turned her back to him, and he punched the air in triumph, morphing the gesture to rub the back of his neck as she glanced over her shoulder.  “We need to talk.”

~*~

_“Welcome aboard, Lieutenant Alenko.”_

Everybody was staring as he made his way down the gangway.  Which might have meant that his suspicions weren’t entirely unfounded, but given the circumstances he would have ventured that they were entirely _correct_.

“Lieutenant Alenko?” Pressly gaped, thumbing towards the general vicinity below deck, “But...”

“Yeah,” Kaidan replied.  Breathless, he kept moving.  “I _know_.”

~*~

The door to Shepard’s quarters slid open.  Kaidan crossed the threshold, and stopped cold as they slid closed again behind him.  Gritting his teeth, he rubbed his eyes.

“Hey.”  The Kaidan on the bed smiled, writhing in his bonds.  “Your girlfriend’s one kinky chick, you know that?”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Kaidan lied in reply, matter-of-fact.  Beneath his fingers he could see Shepard’s scuffed combat boots, where she stood in the blind spot beside the door.  He dared peer up over the back of his hand to find her arms crossed, and her expression dangerously blank.

Her uniform as impeccable as it ever was.

“Lieutenant,” the commander started firm, then paused, arching a critical eyebrow as she scrutinized him down to the pores on his face.  “I trust you _are_ my lieutenant?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Far be it from me to pry into your personal affairs, but why is there a man on my ship who looks exactly like you?  And why,” she pressed on before he could answer, “did he try to shove his tongue down my throat?”

“Hey, I _succeeded_ in shoving my tongue down your throat, thank you very much.”

“Commander, I would consider it a personal favor if you would please untie him and give him back his pants.”

“You, first.”  Shepard flashed a shark’s grin, meant to unnerve.  “Tell me who he is and why he looks like you.”

With an aggravated sigh, Kaidan raised his arm in a grand sweeping gesture of introduction.

“Shepard, allow me to introduce my brother, Alexander Alenko.”

“How ya doing?”

“Alexander,” keeping his eyes on Shepard, Kaidan gestured to her in turn, albeit far less grandiose, “this is my CO, Lieutenant Commander Shepard.”

“I didn’t know you had a brother.”

“Lieutenant Commander?” Alexander cut in, snickering, “Is that like, a first name or something?”

“Effectively,” Shepard said, turning her attention on him.

“Huh.  Fancy that.”

Approaching the bed, Shepard drew a folding knife from her pocket.  She flicked it open, and Kaidan allowed himself a small measure of satisfaction as Alexander flinched.  After cutting him free of his bindings, she threw his clothes at him, pants first, followed by his shirt, and his pink-heart print boxer shorts last.  His boots, she dropped at the edge of the bed as he was getting dressed, and without a backward glance turned back to Kaidan.

“I trust you’ll take care of this?”

It wasn’t a question  “Yes, ma’am.”

“If you’ll excuse me, gentlemen.”

Shepard stepped past Kaidan to leave.  The door swished closed after her, and Alexander stepped up to Kaidan, wiggling his boots on as he did.

“So, Kaidan, my dear brother,” Alexander grinned.  “About my, um... teensy tiny little problem of mine.”

His brother didn’t share his smile.  “I dealt with it.”

“Excellent.”  Alexander clapped his hands to rub them together.  “I _knew_ I could count on you.  You and your magic... blue... space magic, you.”

Kaidan grabbed his shoulder, tight.  “Don’t ever do that again.”

“Yeah, yeah...” Alexander shrugged him off, then thumbed towards the door, letting the question hang.  “Hey, if you’re not gonna...”

“Fraternization is against regulations,” Kaidan recited.  Alexander stared at him blankly, and he grit his teeth and elucidated, “Dating on the job is illegal for me.”

“Oh, well,” Alexander shrugged, “in that case, mind if I have a go?”

“I don’t think-...” Kaidan groaned, rubbing again at the pressure behind his eyes.  “You know what?  Go for it.”

“You sure?”

“Oh, yeah.” A wry smile twisted Kaidan’s lips behind a dry chuckle.  “In fact, I think I want to see this.”

For a moment, Alexander seemed to catch on, before beaming.  “Great, great!”

~*~

The squeal was heard all the way down to the _Normandy_ ’s cockpit.  Alexander’s scandalized glare as he passed by on his way to the airlock was worth the entire ordeal.  He cleared his throat once, then again, before rasping at Kaidan, “You sure know how to pick ‘em.”

Leaving the depressurization cycle to its cycle, Kaidan moved to slide into the co-pilot’s seat, snickering.  Joker eyed him sidelong.

“Sorry.”  Kaidan bit his lip.  “It’s just... You know, I have never seen him give up on a woman so fast.”

“I hope it was worth it.” Joker shook his head, scoffing, “You are _so_ not getting laid tonight.”

**Author's Note:**

> -This isn't... quite how I wanted it, but it's been rolling around since last Trope Bingo and ffff. Deadlines, you know.  
> -According to Kaidan's writer, Kaidan's name was once going to be "Alexander Kailenko." Thus: Kaiden = Alexander when I'm writing... uh... "seriously." :P


End file.
